Creeks rising in Bay Area, more rain forecast

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, January 26, 2008

This couple walks down Front st near the Embarcadero Center in the rain. Rain heavy at times in San Francisco.
Kurt Rogers / The Chronicle

This couple walks down Front st near the Embarcadero Center in the rain. Rain heavy at times in San Francisco.
Kurt Rogers / The Chronicle

Photo: Kurt Rogers

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Pedestrians try to shield themselves as a heavy down pour falls on Bolinas Ave at Shady Ln. After heavy rain Friday night Police and fire units were forced to shut down most of San Anselmo business district as the Corda Madera creek reached the lip of it's banks. By Lance Iversen/The Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT PHOTOG AND SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/NO SALES MAGS OUT less

Pedestrians try to shield themselves as a heavy down pour falls on Bolinas Ave at Shady Ln. After heavy rain Friday night Police and fire units were forced to shut down most of San Anselmo business district as ... more

Photo: Lance Iversen

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weather_pen_063_mac.jpg Arthur Ulfeldt, of Santa Cruz, lost control of his vehicle while travelling on I-280 Freeway just south of Highway 92. He was not hurt. A strong weather system moves across the Bay Area this morning bringing what is expected to be, heavy rain totals. Michael Macor / The Chronicle Taken on 1/25/08, in Foster City, CA, USA less

weather_pen_063_mac.jpg Arthur Ulfeldt, of Santa Cruz, lost control of his vehicle while travelling on I-280 Freeway just south of Highway 92. He was not hurt. A strong weather system moves across the Bay Area ... more

Photo: Michael Macor

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A woman crosses over Strawberry Creek in the rain on the Cal campus in Berkeley, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 25, 2008. Intense wind and heavy rain storms are expected to drench the Bay Area over the next several days. less

A woman crosses over Strawberry Creek in the rain on the Cal campus in Berkeley, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 25, 2008. Intense wind and heavy rain storms are expected to drench the Bay Area over the next several ... more

Photo: PAUL CHINN

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weather_pen_033_mac.jpg The morning commute as the rain begins to fall, West bound traffic, left, makes it's way across the San Mateo Bridge. A strong weather system moves across the Bay Area this starting this morning bringing what is expected, heavy rain totals. Michael Macor / The Chronicle Taken on 1/25/08, in Foster City, CA, USA less

weather_pen_033_mac.jpg The morning commute as the rain begins to fall, West bound traffic, left, makes it's way across the San Mateo Bridge. A strong weather system moves across the Bay Area this starting this ... more

Photo: Michael Macor

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Students carry colorful umbrellas on an otherwise gray day near the Life Sciences building on the Cal campus in Berkeley, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 25, 2008. Intense wind and heavy rain storms are expected to drench the Bay Area over the next several days. less

Students carry colorful umbrellas on an otherwise gray day near the Life Sciences building on the Cal campus in Berkeley, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 25, 2008. Intense wind and heavy rain storms are expected to ... more

Photo: PAUL CHINN

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People walk up Sacramento St in the Rain near the Embarcadero Center in san Francisco Rain heavy at times in San Francisco.
Kurt Rogers / The Chronicle

People walk up Sacramento St in the Rain near the Embarcadero Center in san Francisco Rain heavy at times in San Francisco.
Kurt Rogers / The Chronicle

Shoppers make their way through the Embarcadero Center in the rain. Rain heavy at times in San Francisco.
Kurt Rogers / The Chronicle

Shoppers make their way through the Embarcadero Center in the rain. Rain heavy at times in San Francisco.
Kurt Rogers / The Chronicle

Photo: Kurt Rogers

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Current reservoir levels. Chronicle Graphic

Current reservoir levels. Chronicle Graphic

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Creeks rising in Bay Area, more rain forecast

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As a heavy winter storm pounded the Bay Area, emergency officials used blaring horns Friday night to alert residents and visitors to evacuate the flood-prone town of San Anselmo.

By 7 p.m., Corte Madera Creek was within 1 1/2 feet of spilling over its retaining walls and banks - threatening to flood the downtown business district as it has in years past. Police officers and firefighters went around the city near the creek to warn people of possible flooding. Shopkeepers shut down early. Restaurant patrons were sent home.

San Anselmo Avenue, the central thoroughfare in that city, was essentially shut down throughout the evening, though a handful of bars and restaurants stayed open.

Flooding crept over Highway 101 near San Anselmo, as well, and prompted authorities to close the road in both directions. It remained closed late into Friday evening, but there were no reports of accidents or injuries related to the water on the roadway.

Paul Kreider, the CEO and winemaker of the Ross Valley Winery, waited in his shop on San Anselmo Avenue. "I expect it to flood at 3 a.m., when the tide's high," he said. "This will be the third flood I've been in, and it always happens at high tide."

The town flooded over New Year's in 2006, resulting in millions of dollars worth of damage from which merchants have not yet recovered. It also flooded in 1982.

The slow-moving storm was centered off the coast, pulling in more moisture as it moved, said National Weather Service forecaster Diana Henderson. That will mean heavy rains into this morning, she said.

"The system is definitely starting to ramp up," Henderson said. "The bulk of it is still offshore, and it's not moving easterly very fast."

Residents should prepare for a soggy weekend, even after the worst part of this storm passes, forecasters said.

"It's going to be pretty rainy throughout the weekend," said National Weather Service forecaster Brian Tentinger. "It will still be lingering ... probably through Tuesday."

It had been soggy all week around the Bay Area, though precipitation totals had been modest. That changed Friday, Henderson said, after the downpour that began Friday morning. Some areas received an inch an hour, and creeks began to rise.

"A whole lot of rain has fallen recently," said Henderson.

The weather service issued an urban and small stream flood advisory Friday for parts of San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties - and a flood watch for the entire Bay Area, as well as the Monterey area, until early this morning.

Some residents were evacuated from a mobile home park in Petaluma because of flooding on Stony Point Road. The evacuation was voluntary there, but mandatory for several homes on Petaluma Boulevard north of the city. An evacuation center was opened at the Petaluma Community Center.

With all the heavy rain and surface flooding, the Friday evening commute was nasty.

"We are slammed, and the commute is definitely atrocious," said California Highway Patrol Officer A. Paulson.

The winter storm also caused havoc in Southern California when an avalanche claimed the life of a skier in the mountain resort town of Wrightwood (San Bernardino County). The 23-year-old skier was rescued but died later at a nearby hospital.

A rockslide brought a morning commuter train from Ventura to Los Angeles to a halt. Flooding turned at least one street in Hancock Park in Los Angeles into a lake.

Forecasters expected most areas of Northern California to get up to 3 inches by this morning, and up to 5 inches could drop in inland valleys. The storm also will bring some serious winds - 40 mph gusts were recorded early Friday not far from shore.

"There have also been some locations in Monterey County and in the hills in the East Bay and Santa Cruz Mountains that have seen gusts of 40 mph or so," Tentinger said.

There was some good news: Temperatures, which have struggled to get out of the 40s this week, were expected to rise Friday and Saturday, when San Francisco will see highs in the mid-50s. But the temperatures will dip a couple degrees later in the weekend.

"There's some slight warm air moving in ahead of the system, which is enhancing the rainfall and causing snow levels to increase," Tentinger said.

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